Pollution FTW- Running 10k in Beijing Ain't Pretty.
Even ignoring the obvious socio-political questions about granting an Olympics to China, the pollution problem in Beijing makes the choice of the Chinese capital as an Olympic host puzzling (to say the least.) Despite the best efforts of the Chinese government, there's only so much they can do about the air quality and, as this post from the BBC illustrates, the distance events could be exeptionally taxing on the athletes.
I pass a woman whose mobile has an Axel F ring-tone and realise that my throat has started to feel sore, as if I had a cold coming on.
Maybe it's the road I'm running alongside, I think, and head down a side-street in search of a patch of greenery.
Another five minutes down the line, there's a strange lumpy feeling halfway down my throat. An old chap watering a freshly-planted verge hawks up a fat lump of phlegm and flobs it expertly into a plant-pot.
When in Rome, I think, and spit into the gutter with relish. The metallic taste in my mouth remains.
Read more of the depressing first hand account: